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Scattan Wars
The Scattan Wars were a series of conflicts that engulfed the Scattan Islands following the disintegration of the Scattan Confederation. Beginning as a move by member states to separate from the Confederation, the conflict expanded as separatist nations fragmented into rival warring factions. Warlords rose and fell regularly and territorial control between the warlords shifted on a nearly daily basis. Eventually three warlords—Dizyade, Glisgiss, and Skyketh—and the forces they each controlled became the dominant powers in the conflict. Fighting between the warlords continued for some time after the Confederation’s collapse, with Skyketh as the eventual victor. Skyketh’s victory signaled the end of the Scattan Wars. History Origins The conflict that would become the Scattan Wars had its origins within the Scattan Confederation’s own weaknesses. The Scattan Confederation granted member nations a high degree of sovereignty over their territories, however they remained subject to any regulations approved by the Confederate government. Many Scattans believed this made them subjects of Scattans from other tribes, who had representatives in the Confederate government. Additionally, non-Scattan sentient species living within the Confederation’s territory were given second-class citizenship status, which angered the many non-Scattans who had defended the Scattan Islands during the Tilbori Scourge. These resentments were long suppressed by the Confederation’s powerful armies, but would not remain dormant for long. Not one full year after the Confederation’s founding, several major Scattan nations within the Confederation announced their intent to secede. Considering these declarations a challenge to its authority, the Confederation sent its military to invade the rogue nations and force them back in. However, each nation responded by rapidly mobilizing militias of citizens who readily volunteered to defend the sovereignty of their tribes and nations. There was a brief calm as the Confederate armies and nation militias peacefully confronted one another, before a militia commander ordered an attack on Confederate soldiers. This attack ignited all-out civil war within the Scattan Islands, and signaled the beginning of the Scattan Wars. War against the Confederation The first phase of the Scattan Wars was fought between the Confederation’s forces and a loose alliance between the rogue nations. Because the Confederation’s armies were superior to any one of the rogue nations’ militias, the separatist nations chose to share militias and send troops between islands to wherever they were needed, regardless of which tribe they belonged to. The rogue nations pledged to return all of their forces to their tribes’ islands once the Confederation was defeated. As the fighting displaced many Scattan and non-Scattan civilians, many sentient species on the Scattan Islands found themselves struggling for food, water, and other essentials. Many displaced civilians became mercenaries fighting for either the Confederation or any one of the rogue militias in exchange for shelter and food. These mercenaries would become known as “Starved Guns,” representing an entire socioeconomic class and becoming a defining symbol of the Scattan Wars. Over time the Confederation began losing a great deal of territory against the allied militias and their Starved Gun recruits. As defeat for the Confederation appeared increasingly imminent, prominent leaders within the militias began focusing more on internal rivalries that had been brewing during the fight against the Confederation. These leaders conspired with one another in order to influence the shape of the postwar Scattan Islands in their favor, including assassinations of leaders they deemed threats to their statuses. One assassination attempt was discovered by militia forces, and when it was learned the assassin came from another militia, the alliance between the separatist nations collapsed. The Confederation had all but collapsed as well, and militias chose to send armies comprised of their Starved Guns to eradicate the last of the Confederation while the militias sent their volunteer armies against each other. Warlords, anarchy, and Starved Guns The second phase of the Scattan Wars came after the collapse of the Scattan Confederation. When the Confederation finally fell, the Scattan Islands remained in a state of civil war and unrest. The lines between tribes of Scattans blurred and the proliferation of legions of Scattan and non-Scattan Starved Guns further confused the situation. In this state of disarray, the leaderships of the original secessionist nations dissipated, replaced instead by a variety of opportunistic warlords. These warlords seized upon the chaos in the Scattan Islands to advance their own causes, recruiting mass amounts of Starved Guns to build their own personal armies. The territories these warlords controlled were constantly under siege by enemies, and their spheres of influence changed almost daily. The three dominant warlords Eventually three warlords emerged as the primary leaders in the conflict: Dizyade, Glisgiss, and Skyketh. These three warlords had, through deception, accumulation of resources, and conquest, achieved for themselves pseudo-states, with armies comprised of Starved Guns and loyalists to defend territorial claims. Each warlord, like the many before them, had different reasons for fighting, and during this time the battles became more organized. Peace returned briefly to regions deep within a warlord’s territory, with war only present on front lines. This was temporary, however, as Glisgiss’s forces began showing signs of stress. Dizyade in particular began focusing on eliminating Glisgiss from the war. After a series of offensives, Glisgiss’s last stronghold fell, and Glisgiss himself managed to escape the Scattan Islands. Content with having Glisgiss and his forces removed, Dizyade began refocusing on Skyketh’s armies. Skyketh’s forces were regularly attacking Dizyade’s holdings during his hunt for Glisgiss, and Dizyade found he was less equipped to challenge Skyketh than he thought. Despite rigorous defense of his territory, Dizyade’s power too began showing signs of collapse. Recognizing defeat, Dizyade chose to make a mass retreat from the Scattan Islands altogether, bringing with him as many followers and Starved Guns as he could. He loaded himself and what soldiers of his he could onto a small fleet of ships he once used to shuttle forces between Scattan Islands. Once onboard, he ordered the fleet to sail away from the Scattan Islands, and disappeared with them into the saline-Cascatine oceans. This signaled the victory of Skyketh, and the end of the Scattan Wars. Legacy The most important legacy of the Scattan Wars was the creation of a precedent for mercenary work throughout the Shimmering Seas. Starved Guns did not disappear when the wars ended. The nation of Orscatta, founded by Skyketh after the war, recruited Starved Guns for law enforcement work. Many Starved Guns remained available for hire, and were often employed by criminals within the Scattan Islands. Starved Guns would carry their services beyond the Scattan Islands as well, as sea travel was considered safer following the war’s conclusion. The creation of Orscatta too was an important legacy, as it was designed to address many of the old problems of the Scattan Confederation. Under Skyketh, Orscatta was able to unify the Scattan Islands and develop a society made up of many sentient species, not just Scattans. Known participants Auzzath Dizyade Glisgiss Gorvok Grehil Naks Sadisma Skyketh Vyzia Wellis Wullthaug